


Gh0st

by elstarwarslover



Series: The Other Other Epilogues [9]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But only potentially, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Chatlogs, F/F, Feelings Jams, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, How will it work out, Post-Canon, not very dark though, the world may never know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:22:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22090051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elstarwarslover/pseuds/elstarwarslover
Summary: Aradia catches Vriska before she falls into the black hole.  The two of them talk about their feelings, their past, and maybe their future.  And, like all good things, Terezi is there.
Relationships: Aradia Megido/Vriska Serket, Terezi Pyrope/Vriska Serket
Series: The Other Other Epilogues [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1594504
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Gh0st

ARADIA: vriska  
ARADIA: i will freeze you for the rest of eternity if you dont stop trying to go back  
VRISKA: L8t m8 g8!!!!!!!!  
ARADIA: you are in no condition to go back to the fight and you know it  
VRISKA: I need to see what happens!!!!!!!!  
ARADIA: you need to lay down and get some rest  
ARADIA: besides terezi will be coming by any  _ time _ now  
VRISKA: Who c8res?  
VRISKA: She c8n come find me l8er.  
VRISKA: This is a once in a l8fetime deal!  
VRISKA: The final countdown!  
VRISKA: The 8ig 8oss!  
VRISKA: This one counts for 8ll the mar8les!  
ARADIA: please shut up  
ARADIA: youll have plenty of  _ time _ to do big things for the whole rest of your life  
ARADIA: you have a whole planet that will be needing your leadership  
ARADIA: friends who miss you :)  
ARADIA: a moirail who loves you  
ARADIA: so sit your ass down and trust that youve played your part  
VRISKA:  
VRISKA: F8ne.  
VRISKA: Wh8 are you gonna do?  
VRISKA: Go back to Earth with me?  
VRISKA: Or are you going to stay out here, like some sort of hypocr8?  
ARADIA: thats probably a fair point  
ARADIA: but there are still a few more things out here id like to investigate before i start settling down  
VRISKA: Like what?  
ARADIA: like this black hole  
VRISKA: The one that’s currently eating everyone and everything that comes near it?  
ARADIA: the very same  
ARADIA: theres a cherub in there  
VRISKA: I’m sure there are lots of things in there.  
ARADIA: okay maybe that was a bad way of wording it  
ARADIA: how about  
ARADIA: that black hole is a cherub  
VRISKA: 8ullshit.  
ARADIA: no bullshit  
ARADIA: im one hundred percent serious :)  
VRISKA: Wow, um, okay, did you hit your head out here?  
VRISKA: What day is it?  
ARADIA: :(  
ARADIA: i can assure you that i am perfectly in control of my faculties  
ARADIA: you dont have to believe me though

Aradia sits down on the meteor next to Vriska. Together, they watch doomed soul after doomed soul fly up from an unseen horizon and into the black hole’s reach. Vriska would have been one of them, had Aradia not caught her. Whatever it was that hit her caught her in the eye, and her Vision Eightfold is officially gone. At least, until she can find a healer or die stupidly enough to get resurrected. But something tells her that Aradia’s not going to let either of those happen in the immediate future. A crack in the outer ring sparks red, then grows dim again.

VRISKA:  
ARADIA:  
VRISKA: F8ck okay, I’ll 8ite.  
VRISKA: What do you know a8out the cheru8?  
ARADIA: :)  
ARADIA: if i am correct she is the doomed adult version of roxys friend calliope  
ARADIA: by some means she managed to predominate instead of her brother  
ARADIA: and was doomed because of it  
ARADIA: she will have waited for quite some  _ time _ for this moment  
ARADIA: but id like to hear her tell the story herself  
VRISKA: And then?  
ARADIA: who knows :)  
ARADIA: something new hopefully  
VRISKA: Earth C?  
ARADIA:  
ARADIA: maybe

Vriska looks out into the expanse again. The cracks in reality that her alternate self made form a complete ring, all of which is visible as the black hole bends its light into circles. If she could position herself just right, she might be able to track what was happening on the battlefield across the black hole. She might even be able to return and to see Lord English ripped to shreds herself. But instead, she’s stuck here with the most annoying version of Aradia, forced to wait for Terezi to make her way from a different life to find her. The red dot flares back to life and begins to grow brighter.

VRISKA: 8ut you don’t want to, do you?  
ARADIA: not exactly  
ARADIA:  
ARADIA: theres too much out here to see after all  
ARADIA: i dont want to miss anything :)  
VRISKA: Okay.  


Vriska looks at Aradia, but Aradia won't hold her gaze. Vriska thought that maybe the past might finally be behind them, but even now it haunts them both like a gh0st.

VRISKA: I am sorry, for what it's worth.  
VRISKA: Of all of us, you might 8e the only one who was completely 8lameless, and you were the one who died for it.  
VRISKA: 8ecause I needed my revenge against her.  
ARADIA: thats not it either vriska  
ARADIA: im not mad at you or anything  
ARADIA: but you dont understand me  
ARADIA: no one does  
ARADIA: no one has since you killed me  
ARADIA: i spent sweeps suffering because no one knew that i had died, excepting only those who didnt care  
ARADIA: no offense but you cant imagine how lonely it got  
ARADIA: and it was even worse when no one so much as acknowledged what happened to me  
ARADIA: its um  
ARADIA: its easier to choose to isolate myself than to face the reality that no one will ever understand me  
ARADIA: then at least i can pretend that i have my loneliness under control

Vriska looks at the red dot, which now has the distinct form of a person, albeit from a great distance. Terezi can’t possibly get here fast enough, and not just because Vriska would rather not try to figure out how exactly time is moving between them at the moment. Terezi had always been better with Aradia after all. But she wasn’t here yet.

VRISKA: I can understand that.  
VRISKA: I’m still sorry.  
VRISKA: I know very well what that kind of loneliness can do to a person.

The silence between them is nigh unbearable, and Terezi seems to be no closer than when Vriska last looked.

VRISKA: Do you want to talk about it?  
ARADIA: about you killing me  
VRISKA: Yes.  
ARADIA: why would i want to do that  
VRISKA: I don’t know.  
VRISKA: That seems to be what people do in this kind of situation, right?  
ARADIA: what is there to talk about  
VRISKA: Nothing, I suppose.  
ARADIA: very well

The space around them is too silent for the destruction they’re currently witness to. Another wave of ghosts fly past into the black hole. Only one of them is conscious enough to try to resist its pull, but they’re too slow.

ARADIA: okay you know what  
ARADIA: i do have one question  
VRISKA: Shoot.  
ARADIA: back in the beginning when we were all still friends  
ARADIA: why did you hurt tavros in the first place  
VRISKA: ::::|  
VRISKA: I don’t really know.  
VRISKA: He just.  
VRISKA: He infuri8s me.  
VRISKA: And I wanted him to acknowledge that, may8e.  
VRISKA: 8ut he didn’t feel the same, or may8be couldn’t feel the same.  
VRISKA: Who even knows with that loser.  
VRISKA: 8ut finally, I tried to force the issue.  
VRISKA: I gave him an ultim8tum, and he took the wrong option.  
VRISKA: I didn’t want to look weak, so I followed through.  
ARADIA: so thats it then  
ARADIA: you didnt want to look weak  
VRISKA: Yeah, I guess.  
ARADIA: can i say something kind of stupid  
VRISKA: Go for it.  
ARADIA: i actually kind of looked up to you  
VRISKA: Wh8.  
ARADIA: its stupid right  
ARADIA: but you were so confident and powerful and you could go anywhere you wanted  
ARADIA: and i was a wannabe archaeologist who was constantly afraid of a world that was literally out to kill me  
ARADIA: so yeah  
ARADIA: stupid  
VRISKA: I don’t think that’s stupid.  
VRISKA: All of Alternia told us that rust bloods were weak and lazy and blue bloods were the best land dwellers could aspire to be?  
VRISKA: It’s not like you would have looked to Equius for inspiration.  
VRISKA: No offense to him.  
ARADIA: yeah fair enough :)  
VRISKA: Have you seen him out here by the way?  
VRISKA: May8e I ought to see him 8efore I go.  
ARADIA: oh yeah ive seen a lot of him  
ARADIA: im sure one will pass by after some  _ time _ if you wanna wait  
VRISKA: Okay, yeah, 8ut have you seen  _ our _ Equius?  
ARADIA: when you meet enough versions of your friends you start to realize theres no such thing as  _ your _ version of one of them  
VRISKA: ::::|  
ARADIA: but to answer your question no  
ARADIA: i havent seen him  
VRISKA: Damn.  
VRISKA: Oh well.

Vriska reaches a hand out and rests it between them. She refuses to look to see Aradia’s reaction. To be quite honest, she doesn’t know what she would want anyway. If she strains, instead, she can make out Terezi’s distinctive form growing closer every second. She remembers their last conversation then flips open her phone. Her last opened message is from Terezi. She hadn’t quite known how to feel about them, but she’s glad to have the chance to talk about them in person. You know, some time in the next century that is.

ARADIA: okay one more question  
VRISKA: Shoot.  
ARADIA: what did you think of me back then  
VRISKA: How should I know?  
ARADIA: vriska  
VRISKA: Okay, fine.  
VRISKA: I honestly saw you as kind of an o8stacle.  
VRISKA: You always g8ve Tavros an out.  
VRISKA: When I saw the opportunity to t8ke you out of the picture, I took it.  
ARADIA: so i was just an obstacle  
ARADIA: all that  _ time _ we spent flarping together  
ARADIA: and thats what it comes down to  
VRISKA: Yeah.  
VRISKA: I guess so.  
ARADIA: well at least youre honest  
VRISKA: Sorry if you're disappointed.  
ARADIA: honestly not particularly  
ARADIA: what else should I expect from someone so high up on the spectrum  
ARADIA: some people would say it was a mercy that you didnt kill me sooner  
VRISKA: I wouldn't.  
VRISKA: You were my friend after all.  
ARADIA: your friend the obstacle  
VRISKA: No!  
VRISKA: Well, yes.  
VRISKA: Ugh, it's complicated.  
ARADIA: go figure  
ARADIA: but thats how life on alternia was for everyone i guess

Vriska looks back out to Terezi, no longer so far away that she has to squint. She smiles, knowing that she'll be here soon, here to take her away to Earth C. She feels Aradia interlock their pinkies. She nearly jumps but manages to stay seated. When she looks back, Aradia is looking somewhere far away.

ARADIA: i got my revenge didnt i  
ARADIA: so why do i still feel so drawn to you  
VRISKA: Well, is it still revenge you're looking for?  
VRISKA: Or is it something else?  
ARADIA: i dont know  
ARADIA: i guess right now i want to rip this universe apart and see what its made of  
VRISKA: And then?  
ARADIA: ill get there when i get there

But Terezi gets there first. She tackles Vriska at full speed, and the two of them roll over each other a handful of times. Terezi lands straddling Vriska, with a hand on each of her shoulders.

TEREZI: SUP VR1SK4  
VRISKA: Hey, Terezi.  
VRISKA: How long have you 8een looking for me?  
TEREZI: 1 TH1NK 1T'S B33N 4 F3W W33KS NOW  
TEREZI: NOT T3RR1BLY LONG  
VRISKA: Good.  
VRISKA: I know I said I'd do whatever time travel was necessary to make you not have to w8, but jegus how annoying would that be.  
TEREZI: W3LL 1'D H4T3 TO 4NNOY YOU  
TEREZI: WH4T'S H3R D34L?

Vriska smiles and looks over to Aradia. She's sitting with her legs crossed, one elbow resting on her knee, and her head resting on that hand.

VRISKA: Who knows?  
VRISKA: She'll just have to come to Earth C to find out.  
VRISKA: ::::)  
ARADIA: very clever serket  
TEREZI: UGH, GROSS  
TEREZI: 4R3 YOU R34DY TO GO OR WH4T?  
VRISKA: Let's g8.  
VRISKA: Are you coming, Aradia?  
ARADIA: not this  __ time  
ARADIA: but um  
ARADIA: ill be around soon :)


End file.
